Wordle

Creates word clouds from inputted text. The size of the words in the word cloud depends on the word's frequency in the input text. The word cloud can be customized using different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.
Tom Barrett has a great slide show with many suggestions for using Wordle in the classroom.

How To Create Word Cloud Text Art With Wordle
Link http://www.howcast.com/videos/17219-How-To-Create-Word-Cloud-Text-Art-With-Wordle

Wordle Sample

Web 2.0 Wordle

Resources

Links
Wordle Advanced
Worlde Blog
How to Create a Wordle

Overview

Free
No account needed
Easy to use
Ability to print Wordle without saving it to the gallery
Ability to take out common words (like the, and, or, but)
File may be saved as a pdf or svg
Words that go together can now be kept together by inserting the tilde character (~). The tilde is converted to a space when the Worlde is created, and the words will appear next to one another (http://blog.wordle.net/2008/06/keep-words-together-with-tilde.html)

Ideas for Use in the Classroom

Looking at Poetry through a Wordle
Wordle famous speeches to determine themes
Have students create a Wordle of themselves as an get to know you activity
Create a wordle and have students pick out the word that does not belong
Have students define/ explain each word. Similes can be used so students can compare the similarities among the words
How many compound words can you make?
Give students a specific topic, such as "Wars" and have students use Wordle to write all the wars they can think of. (This would allow students to use their memory, while being more entertaining than merely writing a list.)
Establish a literacy center where students use Wordle to list words that have the sound of the week. The students could also type the spelling words of the week, thus allowing students to have another experience with the words without boring them.
Students can build upon their vocabulary knowledge throughout the school year by consistently updating the Wordle as they learn new information
Students can create an acrostic of famous historical people or events for Social Studies classes. For example: John Adams.

Examples of Uses in the Classroom

http://www.boxoftricks.net/?p=103
http://www.angelamaiers.com/2008/11/wordle-in-the-c.html
http://murcha.wordpress.com/2008/09/06/using-wordle-in-the-classroom/
http://teachingtomorrow.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/wordle-in-the-classroom